Today, 24 November 2017, the Intergovernmental Greece-Cyprus Council of Defence convened in Athens. The Intergovernmental Council convenes twice a year, once in Cyprus and once in Greece with the participation of Ministers, Chiefs, General Directors and staff officers of the highest echelons of the chain of command of the two countries Armed Forces. The first Convention took place in Nicosia, last April. The Convention of the Intergovernmental Council was preceded yesterday by a session of the Joint Staff Working Group which thoroughly examined and prepared all the issues of the Council’s agenda for today.

During the Convention the Council reviewed the work achieved recently, in the context of the permanent, stable and upgraded cooperation between Greece and Cyprus in the field of defence.

It is a common belief that this cooperation stands at its highest point. The Joint Memorandum on Crisis Management signed, stipulating the context of the joint operational planning to counter common threats at a bilateral level but also the continuous enhancement of cooperation at an operational and staff level, discreetly and systematically, has essentially amplified the defence partnership between Greece and Cyprus.

Today, this defence partnership takes on a new strategic dimension in the context shaped by the new structure of security and defence in Europe with the establishment of PESCO.

Cyprus and Greece will remain ahead of the developments to the direction of the joint European defence and will take joint initiatives so that through participation in operational programmes but also programmes of joint armaments, in cooperation with our partners, we will promote our common national interests, but also the European interests, in the turbulent and unstable region of the Eastern Mediterranean.

In this context Greece and Cyprus will strive even harder towards the direction of strategic cooperation developed with friendly neighbouring countries, at a bilateral as well as trilateral level. Through joint exercises and training but also joint cooperation programmes to counter common threats, we shape the context for the promotion of security, stability and peace conditions in our wider region.

We give particular emphasis to the expansion of our cooperation in the field of information exchange and Cyberdefence.  

An Agreement on Classified Information Exchange was signed today while the Council decided to form a working group for the monitoring and coordination of progress in the field of Cyberdefence.

Furthermore, an updated Memorandum of Cooperation was signed in the context of the Convention, pertaining to issues of Airdefence and it was decided that the two countries will participate in training programmes for UAVs. Cooperation in the field of aeronautics will probably be further updated shortly and within the context of PESCO.

It was also decided to enhance our cooperation pertaining to defence industry, aiming to third countries’ participation and in light of new funding perspectives established through the new European Defence Fund.  

The next Convention of the Intergovernmental Defence Council will take place next April in Cyprus.